Hi guys,
I am currently cycling a 60-litre (19 US gallons) tank which has been housing four male Dwarf Gourami (each about 4cm long) for almost two weeks (the tank is three weeks old but was left empty of fish for the first week). I know that this is too many Dwarf Gourami for a relatively small tank but my LFS recommended them as a good starter fish and I didn't know there could be problems having four males together. Now I know better but it's too late to do anything else as I can't find new homes for them and I'm certainly not going to euthenise them. I also know that I should have looked into cycling the tank before adding any fish to it but I am at least learning from my mistakes and judging by the amount of mistakes I've made so far I ought to know absolutely everything there is to know before long!
Anyway...
While the tank is cycling I'm testing the Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and pH of the water every day and have been doing a partial water change of 20 to 65% every 2 or 3 days depending on what kind of results I get from the water tests. I have a couple of questions based on this as I haven't been able to find answers to these in any of the things I've read:
1) What is the maximum amount of water I can safely remove from the tank without affecting the health of the fish?
2) How much of the Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira bacteria live in the water itself? I have only ever read that the bacteria establishes itself inside the filter and on all surfaces within the tank (i.e. gravel and decorations) but I don't know if any remains in the water itself and is therefore removed during a PWC (and needs to be replaced).
3) Should I add the biological water conditioner (in my case Nutrafin Cycle) to the water before or after the water is added back into the tank? I normally add it to the water before I add it into the tank but am not sure whether it would be better to treat the water for chlorine/ chloramine (I use Nutrafin Aqua Plus for this) before adding it to the tank and then treat the whole tank with the Nutrafin Cycle once the PWC has been completed.
4) Could too much Nutrafin Cycle (or any other biological water conditioner) affect the health of the fish? And if so, how much more than the recommended dose would be required to cause any harm? For example, if I was worried that the Ammonia level was particularly high would it be a good idea to add a little more Nutrafin Cycle than usual?
Many thanks in advance to anyone who can answer any of these questions and help me to understand exactly what a PWC does!
Dan
I am currently cycling a 60-litre (19 US gallons) tank which has been housing four male Dwarf Gourami (each about 4cm long) for almost two weeks (the tank is three weeks old but was left empty of fish for the first week). I know that this is too many Dwarf Gourami for a relatively small tank but my LFS recommended them as a good starter fish and I didn't know there could be problems having four males together. Now I know better but it's too late to do anything else as I can't find new homes for them and I'm certainly not going to euthenise them. I also know that I should have looked into cycling the tank before adding any fish to it but I am at least learning from my mistakes and judging by the amount of mistakes I've made so far I ought to know absolutely everything there is to know before long!
Anyway...
While the tank is cycling I'm testing the Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and pH of the water every day and have been doing a partial water change of 20 to 65% every 2 or 3 days depending on what kind of results I get from the water tests. I have a couple of questions based on this as I haven't been able to find answers to these in any of the things I've read:
1) What is the maximum amount of water I can safely remove from the tank without affecting the health of the fish?
2) How much of the Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira bacteria live in the water itself? I have only ever read that the bacteria establishes itself inside the filter and on all surfaces within the tank (i.e. gravel and decorations) but I don't know if any remains in the water itself and is therefore removed during a PWC (and needs to be replaced).
3) Should I add the biological water conditioner (in my case Nutrafin Cycle) to the water before or after the water is added back into the tank? I normally add it to the water before I add it into the tank but am not sure whether it would be better to treat the water for chlorine/ chloramine (I use Nutrafin Aqua Plus for this) before adding it to the tank and then treat the whole tank with the Nutrafin Cycle once the PWC has been completed.
4) Could too much Nutrafin Cycle (or any other biological water conditioner) affect the health of the fish? And if so, how much more than the recommended dose would be required to cause any harm? For example, if I was worried that the Ammonia level was particularly high would it be a good idea to add a little more Nutrafin Cycle than usual?
Many thanks in advance to anyone who can answer any of these questions and help me to understand exactly what a PWC does!
Dan
